Final thoughts from Mackey on Purdue-Wisconsin

I didn’t grow up in Purdue’s sphere of influence, though I did grow up in Big Ten country and knew about the Boilermakers’ blue collar reputation, especially in basketball.

One thing I’ve learned in my time in Tippecanoe County is that most Purdue fans are satisfied with reasonable levels of success, provided their team is playing with maximum effort.

One can assume Saturday’s postgame admission from two Boilermaker seniors that the team (or at least some of its members) didn’t come out to play for a 72-58 loss to Wisconsin won’t go over well with this fan base. Nor should it.

As Matt Painter said after the game, when you’re doing the same things in January that you did in November, that’s probably a team’s identity. That means a muddled offensive approach, a vanishing 7-foot centerpiece and chronic inconsistency are what we should expect from these Boilermakers through the end of the season.

There are few teams anywhere hotter than Michigan, and the Boilermakers take their struggling offense to Ann Arbor on Thursday. Then comes a long road trip to Penn State, which nearly beat Purdue at Mackey Arena and has more talent than its record suggests.

Purdue’s offense isn’t suddenly slumping — its shortcomings are just magnified against Big Ten competition. Unless the Boilermakers get more consistent performances from their top players and become more efficient on offense, the NCAA tournament is an unreachable goal.

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About Nathan Baird

I have worked for the Journal & Courier since 2005 and currently cover Purdue men's basketball. I grew up in central Illinois and am a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Follow me on twitter @nbairdjc